2010 was marked by failure of “football diplomacy” initiated by President Serzh Sargsyan both in the Karabakh peace process and Armenian-Turkish dialogue, expert Andranik Tevanyan told NEWS.am.

The Astana summit put an end to so-called football diplomacy, he believes. “Serzh Sargsyan started “football diplomacy” by making initiative steps and ended it by delivering a patriotic speech in Astana. Yerevan just had to do nothing under these circumstances,” he said. In fact Aliyev’s greed and Erdogan’s shortsightedness saved Armenians, as the first agreed “to take” 7 regions controlled by Armenia in exchange for referendum on Karabakh’s status, while the Turkish leader linked Armenian-Turkish process with the Karabakh issue. Tevanyan stressed that Armenia gained nothing in 2010 except for failed international documents. According to expert’s forecasts, this tendency will continue in 2011 as well.

Speaking of the economy, Tevanyan stressed that recession continued amid triple increase of external debt. “Inflation rate has increased as well,” he emphasized.

As to domestic policy, the expert believes 2011 and 2012 will be years of drastic changes and political reshuffle.